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Website: www.CircleofFaithParish.org www.facebook.com/circleoffaithparish www.facebook.com/trinitylutheranwelcom www.facebook.com/waverlylutheran

Staff / Email

Anthony Christoffels – Lead Pastor achristoffels@circleoffaithparish.org

Eric Midthun-Associate Pastor emidthun@circleoffaithparish.org

Lisa Wohlhuter lwohlhuter@circleoffaithparish.org

Eileen Morrow emorrow@circleoffaithparish.org

CIRCLE OF FAITH

PARISH

204 2nd STREET

Welcome, MN 56181

(507) 728-8259

Office: PO Box 328,

Office hours: M-Th 9-1:00

Office e-mail:

parish@circleoffaithparish.org

TABLE OF CONTENTS: Worship Schedule Pg. 2 News Items Pg. 2-4 Council Minutes Pg. 5-6 Ushers & Worship Assistants Pg. 7 St. Peter pages pg. 8 Trinity pages pg. 8-9 Waverly pages pg. 9 Birthday / Anniversary pg. 10 Calendar pg. 11 Tuesdays: Men’s Sunrise Bible Study @ First Lutheran , Trimont

Thursdays: Women’s Sunrise Bible Study @ First Lutheran, Trimont

Wednesdays: Confirmation @ TLC WOW @ TLC Choir Practice @ WLC

UPCOMING EVENTS: 10/4 THCC Worship Mary Circle 10/5 StP WELCA Dorcas Circle 10/9 StP Sunday School 10/10 TLC Morning Bible Study 10/11 WLC Quilting 10/11 WLC Quilting Goldfinch Communion 10/13 WLC Council meeting 10/15 WELCA Fall Gathering 10/18 Wine Women & the Word 10/20 Ripples Articles due 10/26 Assemble Ripples 10/31 Trunk or Treat

St. Peter, Ceylon, MN

Trinity, Welcome, MN

Waverly, Trimont, MN

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OCTOBER WORSHIP SCHEDULE

October 2nd October 9th October 16th October 23rd October 30th Reformation

Sunday

St. Peter 8:30 AM

Worship w/Communion Altar: Green

Worship Altar: Green

Worship Altar: Green

Worship Altar: Green

Worship w/Communion

Altar: Red

Trinity 8:30 AM

Worship w/Communion Altar: Green

Worship Altar: Green

Worship Altar: Green

Worship Altar: Green

Worship w/Communion

Altar: Red

Waverly 10:30 AM

Worship w/Communion Altar: Green

Worship w/Communion Altar: Green

Worship w/Communion Altar: Green

Worship w/Communion Altar: Green

Worship w/Communion

Altar: Red

Trinity Lutheran Church will be hosting the Christmas Dinner this year. The Dinner will be 12 noon on Wednesday, Nov. 2nd. All Circle of Faith Members are invited, you may bring a friend. The meal will be provided by Trinity Lutheran. Note: we have moved the date up one month to include our Snow bird families before they leave. Please made reservations by Sunday, Oct. 30, by calling one of the following: Janice Franck - 235-9709 Karen Koeder - 639-6275 Velma Schaal - 749-3371

Pre

Watonwan River Conference

Women of the ELCA

FALL GATHERING

“A Time to Dance” October 15, 2016 8:30 am Cost $7.00 Trinity Lutheran Church, Sleepy Eye Speaker: Marge Lundeen Lunch served by the Trinity ladies, Sleepy Eye

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LIKE US Circle of Faith Parish www.facebook.com/circleoffaithparish On: Trinity Lutheran www.facebook.com/trinitylutheranwelcome Waverly Lutheran www.facebook.com/waverlylutheran

2017 marks the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther nailing the 95 Theses to the doors of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. Please join Pastor Anthony and Pastor Stephanie as we walk in the footsteps of Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation beginning in Rome and ending in Germany in the summer of 2018. Brochures are available in all three churches. For more information talk to Pastor Anthony.

2018 Europe

NEXT

Is October 18th

@ Janice Franck 5:30—7:30 pm

& the

No get-together in

October

WORSHIP TIMES

St. Peter—Ceylon 8:30 am Trinity—Welcome 8:30 am Waverly—Trimont 10:30 am

In 1936, a group of pastors launched World-Wide Communion Day. Amid the Great Depression, they were look-ing for a way to meet people’s spiritual needs and unite Christians in their dedi-cation to Christ. The observance, now known as World Communion Sunday, is held on the first Sunday of October. For eight decades it has served as a reminder that Chris-tians around the globe share the same meal in remembrance of Jesus.

You’rx nxxdxd!!! Xvxn though my typxwritxr is an old modxl, it works quitx wxll—xcxpt for onx kxy. I havx many timxs wishxd it workxd pxrfxctly. It’s trux that thx othxr kxys work grxat, but just onx kxy not working makxs a hugx diffxrxncx. Somxtimxs our church sxxms likx my typxwritxr—not all thx kxy pxoplx work. You may say to yoursxlf, “Wxll, I’m just onx pxrson. I don’t makx or brxak thx church.” But it does makx a big diffxrxncx bxcausx a church, to bx xffxctivx, nxxds thx activx participation of xvxry pxrson. So, thx nxxt timx you think your xfforts arxn’t nxcxssary, rxmxmbxr my typxwritxr and say to yoursxlf, “I’m a kxy pxr-son in thx congrxgation, and I’m nxxdxd vxry much.”

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Calling all trunks—to Dugan Street

On Halloween we are going to do Trunk or Treat again.

This year we are going to join St. Paul’s and park our trunks on Dugan

St. (in front of UCC). 5:30—7 pm (hand out candy)

Let the office know if you are going

to do a trunk.

High School Youth Group will be meeting on Wednesday, Oc tober 12th and 26th from 7:00-8:00 pm at Trinity. Come and join us as we make plans for this coming year (including our mission trip in early June)! It is October, which means football, anything apple (cider, pie, crisp), and of course TERROR! Not doing anything for MEA this year? We are making plans to scare you by visit-ing some haunted corn mazes and other fun fall activities. Make sure to come to youth group on Wednesday, October 12th at 7:00 pm to get all of the details. That is of course un-less you are too scared to check it out!

High School Youth Group

Looking for Confirmation Mentors This year in confirmation, our students have been asked to find a mentor. A confirmation mentor is some-one who is willing to befriend and guide a confirmation student in matters related to faith and life. A men-tor is an adult, non-family member, who is actively involved in worship and congregational life at one of our Circle of Faith congregations. Mentors will pray daily for their mentee, engage in regular conversation (weekly is ideal), discuss matters of faith in an honest and helpful way, stand with their mentee on their Confirmation Day, and take an interest in their mentee’s life. Please prayerfully consider being a confirmation mentor to the young students in our parish who are striv-ing to learn more about the faith that we have in Christ Jesus.

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Parish committee members present include: Jeff Lueth, Deanne Gaalswyk, Marilyn Cheever, Scott Morrow, Jody Franck and Jon Saxen and Deb Philipp. Congregational Presidents: Sue Krueger from Waverly, Henry Borchardt from Trinity . Addition to agenda: November Parish Council meet-ing is Election day. There will be a possible change of meeting date to be added under New Business. Jon Saxen made a motion to accept the amended agenda and it was seconded by Jody Franck. Devotions by Pastor Anthony: He presented Bishop Eaton’s report on you tube video of her speech. She spoke of how we are church first. We are not a busi-ness. Our lives are formed by word and sacrament. Then we are sent out to do other things. Marilyn Cheever made a motion to accept Secretary Report as written. Jeff Lueth seconded it. Jody Franck made a motion to accept Treasurer’s report as written. Marilyn Cheever seconded it. Pastors Report: Church wide assembly was held in New Orleans. Pastor Anthony attended. Bishop Eaton challenged everyone to read the small catechism for the refor-mation time of the year. Lessons will be presented in Sermons in the next few months. An app is also available on the internet to download a small cate-chism on your phone. Augsburg Fortress has the app. Pastor Anthony is going to have the confirma-tion kids use this app on their phones as a quick way to work on the small catechism. Declaration on the Way was voted on, accepted and approved in New Orleans. This is a Document with 32 statements that Lutherans and Catholics agree on. This just involves the ECL A, which was made up of a panel of half Lu-therans and half Catholics. It is a Goal for common-ality. Pastor Anthony very much enjoyed his time at the conference. Old Business: Greeting card update: Cards are here. Writers will be Marilyn Cheever from St Peter, Charleen Swan-son from Trinity and Belva Peterson from Waverly. Stamps are provided and a spreadsheet with names and significant life event dates will be provided by Pastor Anthony to the writers. Church directory update: We are waiting to receive the directories from Life Touch. Office staff is work-ing on address changes and then will send back to Life Touch. Summer worship survey: What did we learn from Trinity survey? After two attempts at a survey, one at a Wednesday night service and one online, both sur-veys came up with a split decision on both times of

starts of service. For Sept and Oct Trinity will begin at 8:30 and from November thru April we will start at 10:30 Another survey will then be conducted after April to see how we proceed with start times for Trini-ty. There was a discussion to present this survey at the annual meeting in each of the churches for mem-bers’ feelings on 6:30 evening services and start times for summer or beyond. There was a discus-sion on how often Communion should be given at the Wednesday night services and if people should be ushered or invited to come up. It was decided that this should be included as an annual meeting agenda item as well. There were comments that people did-n’t know where the Offering plates were. Pastor An-thony said he easily could put offering back into the evening services, rather than at the end of the ser-vice. New Business: Christmas Eve will be held at all three churches. Christmas Day and New Years Day fall on Sundays this year. It was discussed their will be no Christmas Day services offered and we will have a joint service for New Years Day at Waverly at 10:00 am Renewal of Pastor’s Eric Contract: Pastor Eric’s wife has retired. Eric was receiving health care coverage under Sue’s plan. Eric researched health insurance options and he felt the best would be Portico insur-ance for him. Pastor Anthony explained that when Pastors are on an Active clergy roster the premiums are lower. When a Pastor is on the retired roster churches would pay a higher rate for the same insur-ance. Pastor Eric is on the retired roster and there-fore the insurance rates would be higher. There was a discussion on a couple of different ways we could handle Pastor Eric’s insurance. We decided to ex-tend an interim contract to him, it will go thru synod council and he would be considered on the active call and be able to receive the Portico health care cover-age benefits at a cheaper rate. Nothing has changed from Pastor Eric’s contract. Jon Saxen made a mo-tion to approve interim contract and Jody Franck se-conded it. Parish budget has to be set for 2017 by our Novem-ber meeting. It’s also a good time to be thinking about members that would be going off the parish council in the beginning of the year and possible members to fill those vacant spots. Next Meeting will be on Tuesday, November 1st at 6 pm at Trinity. Jon Saxen made a motion to adjourn. Jody Franck seconded it. Sincerely submitted, Deb Philipp Parish Council Secretary

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September 15, 2016

Council members present: Sue Krueger, Karen Koeder,

Tim Peterson, Tom Peterson, Cliff Anderson, Don

Nordstrom, Deanne Gaalswyk, Pastor Anthony, Belva Pe-

terson.

The meeting was called to order by President Sue Krue-

ger, Karen Koeder led us with devotion from the book

Discovering Hope. The topic was on leadership. We

should first go to Jesus. In Leadership we need to partner

with others.

Karen Koeder opened with prayer.

A motion by Karen and seconded by Tim to approve the

agenda with correction. Motion carried.

A motion by Karen and seconded by Tom to approve the

secretary’s report with corrections. Motion carried.

Treasurer’s report was presented by Cliff. A motion by

Karen and seconded by Deanne to accept the report as

printed. Motion carried.

Pastor’s report: Said the church wide assembly held in

New Orleans was wonderful. They elected a new vice

president. 32 statements were presented that Catholics

and the ELCA Synod agreed on. Oct 30th

in Sweden the

Lutheran World Federation will meet. The Pope will also

attend. Pastor Anthony will be purchasing an Alb for Na-

than Simmonds to use when he helps with services. A

motion by Karen and seconded by Don, Waverly would

pay the cost for the 5 confirmands and any chaperones

from Waverly that want to attend the Synod Youth Gath-

ering in Willmar Nov 18 and 19 and report back to the

congregation. Motion carried.

Worship Committee: The third Sunday each month we

will be using the book “With one Voice”. Everyone

seemed to enjoy the Wednesday night services. We

should think if we would like Wednesday service every 3rd

month. Also think about having ushers ushering mem-

bers to the front of the church for communion or have

members just walk up to the alter and have an usher at

the front. Karen will see if any members are interested in

attending Sunday morning bible study.

Caring ministries: Making their monthly visits to members

in health care facilities.

Faith Formation: The theme for the Sunday School Year is

“He’s got the whole world in his hands.” They have fifteen

children attending Sunday School. They renewed the

“Sparks” lesson material. Still always looking for Sunday

school teacher.

Property: No report. One light in the kitchen the ballast

is broken. Cliff, Tim and Tom will look into it.

Old Business: 16 children and their families are coming

from Gloria Dei for Harvest Homecoming. Parish picnic

this year was well attended. Information about the en-

dowment fund will be inserted in the bulletin and in the

Ripples. Greeting card ministry, the cards are in. Belva

will contact Pastor Anthony for more information. Tim is

still in touch with Harry and Tootie Gerdes about making

the sign “In this family we do”. The Honeywell communi-

cation system has been renewed. Still working on the

Parish Directory.

New Business: The organ and piano have been tuned.

The elevator needs to be repaired to stay in compliance,

audible and lighted alarm stop switches need to be in-

stalled. Cliff will look in to what needs to be done. There

will be no service on Christmas Day. There will be a joint

service on New Year’s Day at Waverly at 10:00 am. We are

all invited to an open house September 25, 2016 at Ho-

sanna Free Church in St. James from 2:00 to 5:00 to help

Doris Krenz celebrate her 90th

birthday.

Next meeting October 13 at 8:00 pm.

A motion by Don and seconded by Tim to adjourn. Mo-

tion carried.

Closed with the Lord’s Prayer.

Respectfully submitted by Belva Peterson, secretary.

—No meeting in Septem-

ber. Next meeting is November 8 @ 7:30 pm

—No meeting in Sep-

tember. Next meeting is November 14.

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DATE LECTOR USHERS

OCTOBER

2 Jordan Petshcke Dale and Jeanne Leiding

9 Muriel Klenz Todd and Tina Peta

16 Jeannine Rasmussen Jeremy and Chelsie Wink

23 Bernice Lehmann Ronnie and Jane Leiding

30 Jeff Petshcke Kathy Bremer and Jeannine Rasmussen

November 6 Jordan Petschke Kevin and Angie Schmidt

DATE LECTOR USHER COMMUNION

October 2

Larry Puhrman Todd Williams

Bob and Lonnie Moffitt

9 Jon and Jen Saxen

16 Carolyn and Wes Strausser

23 John and Rita Garbers

30 Zane and John Borchardt Brian Burmeister Tony Truesdell

November 6 Lonnie and Bob Moffitt Jon Saxen David Jensen

DATE LECTOR CHILDREN’S TIME

ACOLYTE COMMUNION ASSISTANCE

October 2 Tim Peterson Kirsten Rabbe Youth Susan Rathman

9 Laurie Sherman Susan Rathman Youth Susan Rathman

16 Karen Koeder Pastor Youth Susan Rathman

23 Lindsey Bettin Pastor Youth Susan Rathman

30 Scott Peterson Youth Susan Rathman

November 6 Mary Lou Sherman Kendra Helvig Youth Tom Peterson

October Ushers: Bob Olson, Jim Sherman, Brian Clow, Dennis Krueger, Don Nordstrom November Ushers: John Sherman, Tim Peterson, Cliff Armbrust, Brad Sherman, Jeff Armbrust

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Next Meeting: October 5th @ 1:30 pm

Hostesses: Muriel and Marge

Bible Study: “When God forgives the guilty.”

How do we, like Jesus followers, come to terms with a God who gives to those who haven’t earned it?

The Ingham Bible Camp Hog Roast was great—beautiful weather and a big crowd. Sitting outside listening

to the music of Peder Eide and Swen & Dean and later the pie auction was wonderful. I have not received

the full amount made but Bernice’s pie sold for $200. and Janice’s pie for $180. It’s amazing how much the

pies sell for and there were about 25 of them.

Muriel reports our treasury balance is $2,328. It was decided to donate $200. to the Backpack Food Pro-

gram coordinated by Heaven’s Table Food Shelf.

Some school kits have been assembled and donations are still welcome to make more. Notebooks, crayons,

pencils, pens, rulers, scissors, erasers, sharpeners.

Registration opened Sept. 6th for the Tenth Triennial Gathering, July 13-16, 2017. Women will gather in

Minneapolis under the theme “All Anew.”

Our Fall Gathering will be October 1st at Trinity in Truman. Let’s try to have a care full going. It starts at

8:30 am and ends after a luncheon at noon.

Janice Franck will host the Wine, Women & the Word gathering on Tuesday, Oct. 18th from 5:30—7:30 pm.

October Birthday: Charlotte Schmidtke — October 25

Next work duty: Group 2 October Altar care: Barb Schmidt

It is one of the most beautiful compensations in life.

We can never help another without helping ourselves. Ralph Waldo Emerson

——Love Jeannine

Sunday school Sunday—October 9

9:30 — 11:30 am.

WHAT: Bible Study for all (men and women)

WHEN: The 2nd Monday of each month @ Trinity

TIME: 9 am— coffee, 9:30 am—study

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Can you believe it is that time year again? We will be participating in this again this year. Thank you to those who took part last year, millions of children experienced the joy of Christmas as they received gift filled shoe boxes and literature presenting the Gospel of Je-sus Christ. Collection week is November 14-21. When packing your shoeboxes, think Bright Colors, textures and Noisy items!! Remember, many children that receive these boxes live in a hard, bleak and colorless world

resulting from war, famine and hard times. How fun would it be for them to cuddle up with a bright and cozy blanket or soft stuffed animal? How wonderful for them to be able to put on a clean t-shirt, ball cap oar brightly colored jewelry? Don’t you think they would enjoy making noise with maracas or a kazoo? How creative could they be with treasured paper and color crayons? While you are on the hunt for all of these fun items, please don’t forget about the necessities too: Hygiene items like toothbrushes, toothpaste, mild bar soap (put in plastic bag) comb, washcloth. Hard candy or lollipops are a special treat. It still only cost $7.00 to send each box. REMEMBER: NO war related items like toy guns, knives and military figures. No damaged items. I have come up with a great idea for next year and will give you a reminder in the months to come. To make this a whole church project , everyone could bring in a monthly gift. Such as: January: $1.00 so we can buy plastic shoe boxes February: maybe toothbrushes and toothpaste March: wash cloths and soap April: hairbrush, comb or hair accessories And on and on and on. I will keep you posted !!! Marilyn Oelke

Quilting days — Tuesday and Wednesday October 11 & 12

Trimont Firemen will be holding a Pancake Breakfast on Sunday, Oct. 30 from 10 am—

1 pm. Proceeds to purchase

fire equipment. Free will donation.

At Trinity, we are preparing for our third year of W.O.W. but we need your help in order to continue teaching and sharing our faith with the young, energetic members of our congrega tion. When these kids were baptized, we ALL made a promise to them that we would support and pray for them in their new life in Christ. These young, children of God need YOUR help in learning about the love of God that you have come to know and feel. W.O.W. is on Wednesday evenings from 6:30-7:30 pm. In order to continue the program at its current level, we need at least two volunteers to help. Your commitment to the children in our congregation would consist of 2 Wednesday nights per month (one night you would teach with a volunteer assisting you, the other night you would assist the volunteer who is teaching). Prep time for the one lesson a month that you would be asked to teach would take about an hour of time.

We are also looking for volunteers to help supply and/or prepare/serve meals before W.O.W. A light meal is of-fered to students and parents once a month on Wednesday evening before W.O.W. and confirmation. If you would like to donate money or prepare a meal, please talk to Pastor Anthony.

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Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 Keith Meyer

2 Selma Peterson

3 Norma Schley Charleen Swanson MaryAnn Frerichs

4 Ron Schock Kathleen Klug Michael & Tina

Schultz ‘30’

5 Nathan Simmonds

6 7

Tom & Sandy McKean

8 Liz Stahl Landon Gerhardt Gayle Odegaard Elizabeth Knutson Kenzie Schmidtke

Victor & Diana Abelson ‘45’

9 Jodi Lueth

10 11 Laurie Sherman Charles Armbrust

12 Vicki Smith

13 14 Joel Minscer

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16 17 Emilee Kuehl

18 Donald Saxen Jon Saxen Ralph & Maureen

Stanton

19 Brian Rahm Ellie Kuehl

20 21 22

23 24 Kathy Johnson

25 Charlotte Schmidtke

Todd & Susan Rathman

26 Calvin Schultze

27 Amy Feely

28 29

30 Millie Wohlhuter Kelley Bettin Kiley Bettin Lola Lueth

31 Joyce Sathoff Dana Dettmer Jackie Frerichs Charles Rahm

B I R T H D A Y S

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Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

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2 8:30 am Worship StP & TLC 9:15 SS—WLC 10:30 am Worship Communion

3 4 9 am THCC Worship 7 pm Mary Circle @ LuAnn Peterson

5 1:30 pm WELCA-StP

1:30 pm Dorcas Circle

6:30 pm Confirmation

6:30 pm WOW-TLC

7 pm Choir-WLC

6 7 8

9 8:30 am Worship StP & TLC SS—StP 9:30 am 9:15 SS—WLC 10:30 am Worship Communion

10 9 am coffee 9:30 am Morning Bible Study—TLC

11 WLC—Quilting Days

12 WLC—Quilting Days

2 pm Goldfinch Comm.

6:30 pm Confirmation

7-8 pm Youth Group 7-12

6:30 pm WOW-TLC

7 pm Choir-WLC

13 8 pm WLC Council mtg

14 15 WRC WELCA Fall Gathering 8:30 am Trinity– Sleepy Eye,

16 8:30 am Worship StP & TLC 9:15 SS—WLC 10:30 am Worship Communion

17 18 5:30—7:30 pm Wine, Women & the Word @ Janice Franck’s

19 7 pm Choir-WLC

20 Articles due for Ripples

21 22

23 8:3o am Worship StP & TLC 9:15 SS—WLC 10:30 am Worship Communion

24 25 Men’s Garage ??

26 9 am Assemble Ripples

6:30 pm Confirmation

7-8 pm Youth Group 7-12

6:30 pm WOW-TLC

7 pm Choir-WLC

27 28 29

30 Reformation Sunday

8:3o am Worship StP & TLC Communion

9:15 SS—WLC 10:30 am Worship Communion

31 Trunk or Treat on Dugan

Tues. Nov. 1 6 pm Parish Council mtg.

Wed. Nov. 2 Pre Christmas Dinner For all Circle of Faith members, hosted by TLC @ TLC 12 noon

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Circle of Faith Parish US Postage Paid P.O. Box 328 Non-Profit Organization Welcome, MN 56181 Permit No. 5 Welcome, MN 56181

ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED

Prolific hymn writer Isaac Watts was the oldest of nine children and he was always annoying his father by rhyming everything even in ordinary conversa-tion. One day his father was scolding him and he replied, “Oh, Father, do some pity take, and I will no more verses make.” It was 1714 and England’s Queen Anne was dying. She had no heir to succeed her so the whole country was worried about what would happen. Isaac was concerned about his father. He had been imprisoned many years earlier and Queen Anne had freed him. Isaac was afraid the next regime would put him back in prison. He wrote “Oh, God, Our Help in Ages Past” with Psalm 90 as the inspiration. It is all

about time. God stands above time: “our help in ages past”; “a shelter from storms”; “before the hills in order stood”; “a thousand ages are like an evening gone”; “our guide while life shall last”; “our eternal home”. It covers all the bases! This was just one of hundreds of hymns written by Watts – he wrote a hymn a week for sev-eral years but this is certainly one of his best. It was played on BBC when WWII was declared – it was played at Winston Churchill’s funeral. People turn to this hymn when current events bring worry and concern. They know that the God of all ages will be a safe haven. Master composers such as Handel and Bach have used this melody as part of their works. Listen care-fully and you will hear it. Watts died in 1748 at the age of 74. His monument is placed in Westminster Abbey, the highest honor possible in Great Britain.